MP High Court Upholds Divorce Based On Photos Of Wife's Adultery Without S.65B Evidence Act Certificate, Says Requirement Not Mandatory
While upholding family court's divorce decree granted in favour of a husband based on photographs of the wife committing adultery, the Madhya Pradesh High Court observed that the Indian Evidence Act was not strictly applicable in matrimonial cases.
Rejecting the wife's argument that the Family Court erred in relying on photographs submitted without a Section 65B Certificate under Indian Evidence Act, the division bench of Justice Vishal Dhagat and Justice BP Sharma held that the courts in matrimonial matters have been given authority to receive any report, statement, or document in evidence to find out the truth.
Section 65B Certificate is a mandatory document required to make electronic records admissible in court as secondary evidence to establish their authenticity.
The bench noted;
"As per Section 14 of Family Courts Act, a Family Court may receive as evidence any report, statement, documents, information or matter that may, in its opinion, assist it to deal effectually with a dispute, whether or not the same would be otherwise relevant or admissible under the Indian Evidence Act, 1872. Since, Indian Evidence Act is not strictly applicable in matrimonial cases and further Court had been given authority to receive any report, statement, documents in evidence to find out the truth. Thus, this Court do not find any error in the judgment passed by Family Court by placing reliance on the said photographs."
The wife appealed the judgment and decree passed by the Family Court wherein the husband's petition under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act was accepted, and their marriage was dissolved via order dated February 13, 2006, on the ground of adultery.
The counsel appearing for the wife contended that the Family Court committed an error of law by relying on the photographs, which were secondary evidence, without a Section 65-B Certificate under the Evidence Act being filed and passing a decree of divorce on grounds of adultery.
The counsel further contended that since the case was not a matrimonial dispute, Section 14 of the Family Courts Act, which empowers courts to receive as evidence any report, statement or document to rely on, whether it would be admissible or relevant under the Indian Evidence Act, was not applicable.
The bench, however, rejected this argument, noting that the Indian Evidence Act is not strictly applicable in matrimonial cases. It further emphasised the authority given to the court to receive any report, statement, documents or evidence to discover the truth.
Therefore, the court concurred with the judgment passed by the Family Court, by placing reliance on the said photographs.
The bench, further relying on the evidence, noted that the wife did not deny the existence of the photographs but merely stated that they were created using some trick, but failed to explain who could have created these photographs and how.
It was also noted that the wife, in her deposition, admitted that the photographs were transferred from her mobile to her husband's, then the husband broke her mobile. Terming the conduct of the husband to be 'natural', the bench noted that he broke her phone in anger to stop her from communicating with her paramour.
Considering the evidence on record, the court dismissed the appeal.
Case Title: L v RD [FA-866-2021]
For Appellant: Advocate Eshaan Datt